Hillary Clinton Isn’t Likable, She’s Presidential. Get Over It!

I don’t care that Hillary Clinton fumbled on how to use the New York City subway system. I don’t care that she doesn’t drink cheap light beer, and probably doesn’t watch football on Sundays. I don’t care that she can’t tell a joke, that her smile is awkward, and that she has all the charisma of a garden slug.

Like her or not, Hillary Clinton is somebody who knows how to be President. As President, she’ll spend more time reading policy briefings than playing golf. She’ll spend more time meeting with foreign leaders than with Jimmy Kimmel on late night television. She’s a serious person wanting to hold a serious position as the most powerful person in the world’s most powerful country.

Democrats need to stop thinking with our hearts, and use our heads. As much as some people dislike Hillary Clinton, she’s a million times more likable than Ted Cruz, and an infinitely more serious human being than Donald Trump, who is caricature of a human being playing a caricature of a politician. Bernie Sanders is great in many ways, but he doesn’t have a track record of making critical decisions in a position of power. Hillary Clinton has 12 years of experience in the White House inner circle and she’s ready to be President on day one.

Hillary Clinton isn’t like everyday Americans. She will never be an average, ordinary person. The fact that she is trying so hard to pretend to be one of us is the fault of her advisors. Hillary Clinton doesn’t need to be humanized. That’s Bill’s job, although he doesn’t always do a great job of that.

When people ask me why I voted for Hillary Clinton, my response isn’t that she’s relatable or likable or even honest. My answer is that she’s smart and capable and ready for the job. Hillary Clinton has a never-ending need to prove that smart policy-making can make a huge difference. She wants to prove that she can do this job well. She’s going to be the Steve Jobs of government. She’ll be very demanding of perfection and very difficult to work for, but only because she won’t accept failure for the country. She actually wants to fix the mess we are in because she actually believes in the power of policy solutions. She’ll listen to think tanks and experts and will have very smart people around her. She doesn’t want bubbles. She doesn’t want massive increases in unemployment. She doesn’t want to see long term trends increasing debt, lower wages, and America deteriorating into a second tier nation. She’s smart enough to know that rising income inequality is a death blow to the U.S. economy.

I agree she has needed Bernie Sanders to remind her she is a Democrat. No matter how smart she is, like too many politicians, she’s had too many wealthy elitists placating her ego for years. Speaking to Goldman Sachs for $225k per speech and having dinners with heads of state and corporate leaders may have led to complacency towards her liberal principles. Bernie Sanders is bringing her back down to earth. And she has now committed to things in this campaign that are far more progressive than ever before.

Hillary Clinton is more concerned with her policies working than catering to special interests. It is not that she isn’t friendly with corporate America; it’s that she isn’t dumb enough to let them take down the economy with financial malfeasance, corporate inversions, massive environmental pollution, and outright fraud. And if she does make irresponsible choices, we can protest and raise hell and hold her feet to the fire. Hillary Clinton may actually care what we think because she wants her policies to succeed. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump don’t give a flying piece of monkey poo what we think or whether the country actually succeeds.

Therefore, I urge the Clinton campaign to change its slogan from “Hillary for America” to either of the following:

Hillary Clinton: She’s got it handled (an ode to ABC’s Scandal)

Hillary Clinton: Way smarter than the rest of these clowns

Hillary Clinton: If you were Vladimir Putin, would you want to mess with her?

Hillary Clinton: The only competent, experienced, intelligent, sane, and rational person who actually wants to be President

Hillary Clinton: A real life Claire Underwood might not be so bad

Hillary Clinton: Would you trust Trump or Cruz with the nuclear codes?

Hillary Clinton: This isn’t Denmark, it’s America

Hillary Clinton: This isn’t Texas, it’s America

Hillary Clinton: She won’t put her name on freaking everything

Hillary Clinton: Was already Co-President for eight years

Hillary Clinton: A woman willing to clean up the mess left by 44 men

Hillary Clinton: 26 years in the national spotlight and the best they can do is her e-mails?

Presidential?
Is it “Presidential” to panic over (and push for war in) Iraq, like a George Bush?
Bernie is the only candidate who’s a Statesman, get over it!
Sanders/Gabbard 2016.
Or Sanders/Warren 2016.
Or Sanders/Turner 2016.
…the list of Progressive women VP candidates for Bernie goes on…

Dan from Nevada

AP, that will always make me nervous. It was obviously a huge mistake on her part. But I also believe that she wouldn’t have started that war. Giving the President authority was wrong, and many Democrats got it wrong who shouldn’t have. Hillary was punished for that in 2008 when she lost to Obama. That being said, I don’t necessarily blame the Clinton’s for starting the war. Bush and Cheney made the decision. Changing topics, while Bernie Sanders represents many of the ideal progressive beliefs, he has never truly impressed me in terms of his ideas and his responses. Although he is genuine, he isn’t particularly original in thought. When he first came onto the scene, he was interviewed by Katie Couric, and frankly he didn’t do a very good job answering tough questions. I like him a lot, and would absolutely vote for him in a general election, I am just less impressed with him is all. Elizabeth Warren impresses me more than any elected official since maybe Paul Wellstone. But another person I still like a great deal is Bill Clinton. I think his presence in the White House will be very helpful. The Clinton’s are painted as these hard core moderates who are owned by corporations, but I am not sure that’s the case. If she wins and the country falls apart because the Clinton’s were too corporate and too supportive of the banks, I will be the first person to apologize, and say that you were right about her. But I hope you are wrong.

pa2vadem

Bernie Sanders Statesman? The man who is in the pocket of the gun lobby. The man who allowed a loophole that led to the murder of nine persons in Mother Emanuel Church, Charleston, SC. The man who voted to exempt gun manufacturers from being sued by the Sandy Hook parents.
As for those women that you recommend as running mates (except for Elizabeth Warren) they have no experience at all. Surely you can come up with a better list – look at all those women senators – Gillibrand, Kobuchar, Murray, Stabenow, etc.

AP

The man who is in the pocket of the gun lobby.
-Bernie has never taken money from the NRA. Hillary has taken money from ex-NRA lobbyists, and has pushed for weapons sales all over the world, including the hottest part of the world right now, the Middle East.

The man who allowed a loophole that led to the murder of nine persons in Mother Emanuel Church, Charleston, SC. The man who voted to exempt gun manufacturers from being sued by the Sandy Hook parents.
-Bernie has held 1 consistent position his whole political life: the 2nd Amendment doesn’t allow Americans to own assault weapons.

As for those women that you recommend as running mates (except for Elizabeth Warren) they have no experience at all.
– Major Tulsi Gabbard’s 2 tours in Iraq, coming out as a Combat Medical Veteran from that war (which Hillary voted for, MISTAKENLY) counts as “no experience”? She has more experience in her pinky fingernail than in Hillary’s entire wig.

Elaine Owens

Excellent explanation of why Hillary Clinton is the best person for the job of president in the field today, light years above the others, including Bernie Sanders. You don’t mention one other attribute she has that even Obama didn’t have. She understands quite well the need to work very hard to keep the Democratic Party strong, to try to convince Democrats to vote in off-year elections. Even now, when she holds fundraisers, a portion of the money many times is going to the DNC or to state parties. Bernie Sanders became a Democrat last year solely for the purpose of having a chance to win the nomination for president (he said so). When asked recently if he would work hard to elect down-ballot Democrats and raise funds for them, he said, “We’ll see.” Not the right answer for this life-long Democrat, Bernie.